Bluetooth can't connect with Win 10 laptop although paired

[onlytanmoy]

Hiya, subject of this post basically. Even though I have paired my Dell Win 10 laptop with my S20 FE 5G via BT but when I try to connect by tapping on the paired device name from mobile BT settings, it says can't connect 😞 Any known fix to this?

[Novgorod]

Are you using the Phone Link app on Windows? I'm not sure if the phone will connect if there is no host app running for the handsfree service on the PC. Even if I quit the Phone Link app, as soon as I manually connect to the PC via bluetooth on the phone, it automatically starts the Phone Link app and the phone successfully connects after Phone Link is started on the PC. So make sure that your Phone Link app is set up with your phone and running (i.e. you can see messages and apps, just not calls), and try to connect the phone directly through the app ("calls" tab).

[LouCypher]

Because I've fighted against the issue discussed within this thread for many month now I just want to share the solution which worked for me:
On my Windows installation it was caused by a privacy and security setting. There the permission for Windows to do phone calls was disabled. After enabling it and un- and repairing the phone with Windows again everything works as it should. I had the same effect that it once worked and then suddenly stopped functioning. I'm not using this feature very often and so there were many month with many updates on Windows and phone side and even a new smartphone after it did work and I recognized that it doesn't anymore. So I can only imagine that Microsoft provided the new permission within some Windows update in between and disabled it by default which is exemplary. So in my case the problem wasn't caused by a messed up bluetooth stack on Windows or phone side. Instead it was caused by a Windows security setting which isn't related to bluetooth connections at first sight.

Hope this information helps at least a few persons fighting against this problem as well.

[cincinnatiking197]

Which privacy setting is it? I've tried every solution here, on Google, on Reddit, etc. Nothing works. My PC is connected to my Samsung S21FE via Bluetooth, but my phone says "Cannot Connect." This mystery has been here since 2021, with no solution for me. Hopefully you'll reply, or I'll figure it out for myself. I want to be able to easily share with nearby devices, but it always says "Looking for nearby devices" and shows nothing on my phone.

[LouCypher]

Well, I'm running a german Windows 11. So I'm afraid that I cannot provide an exact, language independant recipe here because I simply don't know the exact translations shown in a Windows with another language interface. What I did to solve this problem for me was to open the Windows settings, go to "Privacy and security" (most probably, the german name is "Datenschutz und Sicherheit"), scroll down to "App permissions" (most probably, the german name is "App-Berechtigungen"), select the item "Phone calls" (most probably, the german name is "Telefonanrufe") and enable the switches to allow access to phone calls for the system and applications.

[bwelch]

In case anyone is wondering this right here is 100% the correct solution!